Hromadske TV

The film is about how the occupation has changed and sometimes broken the lives of people living on the peninsula. Hromadske journalist Natalia Humeniuk arrived in Crimea on the day of the so-called ‘referendum’ on 16 March 2014, where she talked to people in Bakhchisarai, Simferopol, Yalta and Sevastopol. Since then, the journalist has returned to the peninsula at least once a year: she talked about the first political prisoners, the beginning of repressions against Crimean Tatars, the economic conditions and everyday life of the residents of the occupied Crimea, and what it was like to be a Ukrainian in the occupied Crimea or even an activist of the ‘Crimea is ours’ movement who began to criticise the occupation administration. After 5 years, Hromadske journalists returned to the people whose stories were told in the first months of the annexation.

The story takes place in the year of 2022, which is also called The Year of the Tiger in Eastern calendars. When the full-scale invasion breaks out, the main character Oleksandr decides to stay in his hometown Kharkiv, in the Northern Saltivka area of the city. Now all of his surroundings consist of just his pets and the six neighbors. During one of the shellings a missile hits Oleksandr's apartment, and all he is left with now is his camera, which he uses to tell us his story.

This is the story of one homeless man’s transformation after undergoing a nine-month rehabilitation program in a Christian rehab center, after which he tried to start his life over. Misha is 42 years old. He has no passport, a leg injury and sits on a step, begging for handouts with a paper cup. Now he is at rehab center. The rehab center is very much part of the monastery. Following of a strict routine, which revolves around discipline, community, communication and discussion, labour, animals and farming, construction, prayers and hymns, Bible study, as well questions and thoughts about death and happiness. This is what rehabilitation looks like. But will Misha become a new person after rehab?